Assessment of Compliance of Written Pharmaceutical Advertisements in Sana'a-Yemen to Criteria of World Health Organization

Abstract

Background: The influence of pharmaceutical marketing on prescription behavior of physicians can be great especially in developing countries. Aim: To assess the compliance of written pharmaceutical advertisements in Sana`a -Yemen to the criteria adopted by the world health organization (WHO) for drug promotion. Methods: A sample of 147 written pharmaceutical advertisements (included both brochures and posters) were randomly collected from hospitals, private clinics and community pharmacies in Sana`a- the capital of Yemen. The advertisements were initially grouped according to the medical indication of the advertised drug into 11 therapeutic categories among which anti-infective showed the highest percentage (22.4%). Thereafter, the advertisements were again grouped according to the origin of the pharmaceutical manufacturer into 5 categories, American (9.5%), European (23.8%), Arabian (27.2%), Asian (19 %) and Yemeni (20.4%). Subsequently, a cross sectional analysis was applied to every advertisement to assess the presence of 20 WHO criteria of drug promotion and the category as well as overall compliances were reversely determined as error % from the corresponding average distributions of those criteria in the analyzed advertisements. Results: The error % in compliance among the 11 therapeutic categories ranged from -40% in gastrointestinal (GIT) medications to -85% in cardiovascular system (CVS) medications. With respect to categories of manufacturer origin, the error % ranged from -63.6 % in European advertisements to -73 % in Yemeni ones. The overall error % in compliance among all analyzed advertisements (-69.8 %), which was higher than those reported in Emirates (-68.5%) and Saudi Arabia (-44.5%). Conclusion: The error % in compliances of written pharmaceutical advertisements in Sana’a- Yemen to WHO criteria for drug promotion is high. Therefore, establishments and imposing of regulations for drug promotion in Yemen is extremely required.